1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for an Access Point (AP) function of a portable terminal. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for providing the AP function in the portable terminal, and for connecting to a Wi-Fi terminal when performing the AP function.
2. Description of the Related Art
Portable terminals have virtually become necessities of modern life. Thus, service providers and terminal manufacturers are competitively developing differentiated products and services.
For example, the portable terminal has developed into a multimedia device capable of providing various services such as phonebooks, games, Short Message Service (SMS), Electronic (e)-mails, wake-up calls, MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3) players, scheduling, digital cameras, Multimedia Message Service (MMS), wireless Internet, and the like.
In order to use a packet data service including the multimedia message and the wireless Internet in the portable terminal, the portable terminal connects to an Access Point (AP) providing the service.
That is, the portable terminal uses the packet data service by transmitting data to the AP, and thus cannot use the packet data service in an environment where the AP is not present. In addition thereto, the portable terminal performs a process of connecting to the AP when using the packet data service.
In the process of connection to the AP, a wireless Local Area Network (LAN) of the AP and the portable terminal is activated and thereafter the portable terminal is allowed to scan the AP. If the portable terminal is the AP, a user of the portable terminal directly inputs password information of the AP so as to enable the packet data service by connecting to the AP.
When performing the aforementioned connection process, the user of the portable terminal needs to know the password information, and performs a process of manually inputting a password of the AP whenever the portable terminal is used, which leads to inconvenience of use.
Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus and method for simplifying a process of connecting to an AP in a portable terminal.